Justified (A Leah Wolfe SINS Novel)

by Rhonda L. Print

  “You still love him, don’t you?” She accused.

  The waiter picked that moment to come back and offer us refills. I refused. Tala ordered another. “You know exactly what I’m talking about.”

  “I’m engaged, Tala.” I grabbed her arm and made her turn to look at me. “To Ian.”

  “You were engaged to Joaquin once too.” Her green eyes sliced daggers through me and then she abruptly turned.

  I know I sat there with my jaw hanging open for few moments but I couldn’t quite comprehend her meaning. Yes, I had been engaged to Joaquin, a lifetime ago. Then it hit me and I had that “duh” moment.

  “You’re in love with Joaquin, aren’t you?” I asked, this time with a genuine smile. “Does he know?”

  Tala took a big gulp of her drink, staring intently at the contents of her glass. “No.”

  “Tala,” I said softly, “Why won’t you tell him?”

  “Because he is still in love with you.”

  Stake-outs suck, especially when your partner loathes you. I nursed a few drinks, grateful that my speedy metabolism kept me from getting drunk. Tala and I played the part of two friends out on the town and I was just about to give up when a shadow fell over the table. My hand cautiously went to my thigh holster as I looked up and saw two guys, both with dark hair and facial features too similar not to be related.

  “Mind if we join you?” The taller one asked. “I’m Zach and this is my brother Conner.”

  After a round of nice-to-meet-you’s and a fresh order of drinks, the small talk began. Conner sat next to Tala and Zach dragged his chair closer to me. It wasn’t long into the conversation before I started to realize that neither one of these guys was intelligent enough to lure a puppy out of a cage, let alone a woman out of a bar. Tala looked up and gave me a “how the hell do we get rid of them” look just before I felt Zach’s hand start to slither up my leg, perilously close to my gun. I jumped from my seat, a little too quickly, and stifled it with a fake giggle. God I really sucked at the bar scene.

  “Um, Tala. I need to go to the little girls’ room.” Did I just say “little girls’ room”? Somebody, shoot me now.

  “Great idea. I’ll go with you.” She started to stand when Conner put a hand on her shoulder and dragged her back down.

  “I think we're getting ditched, Zach. How about you?”

  Zach put his hand on my hip and squeezed, hard enough to bruise.

  I grabbed his hand just below the fingers and pushed back with my thumbs until he let me go. “I’m not really in the mood to play grab-ass,”

  “Oww.” He complained. “Calm down bitch.”

  I bent Zach’s wrist back far enough to be painful and just this side of breaking it.

  Conner kept a grip on Tala’s upper arm.

  “Let go of her or watch me break your brother’s wrist.” I warned.

  He released Tala. She stood and scrambled to my side.

  “Now I’m going to let go and both of you are going to calmly leave this bar and go home.” I looked at each of them. “Not to another bar, home. Is that understood?”

  “Yeah yeah, whatever. Just let go of my hand you freaky bitch.” Zach really needed to learn a little respect.

  “Conner?” I asked, pushing Zach’s arm back just a little more.

  “Fuck! Tell her okay Conner, she’s breaking my fucking arm!”

  “Fine.” Conner said as he stood.

  I let go of Zach and he straightened up and pulled his shirt down.

  “Bitches!” I heard him growl as him and his brother walked toward the exit.

  “This isn’t getting us anywhere Tala. Let’s give them five minutes and then we’ll call it a night.” We’d try another night or another tactic, I didn’t care which.

  “Then how the hell are we supposed to end this?”

  “I don’t know. We’ll think of something though. I’ll put a tail on Ambrose, see where he leads us.”

  Tala remained silent as we walked out into the breaking dawn. Various types of music echoed down the road, all coming from different bars to congeal in the street.

  “You’re wrong, you know.” I started walking toward the car. “Joaquin doesn’t love me. I’m not sure he ever really did.”

  “Bullshit.” Tala sneered, picking up a step behind me.

  “Maybe he loved the idea of who he thought I could be, not the real me.” And I knew that was true down to my bones.

  I heard a pffft of air blow past me, followed by a screech from Tala. I had my gun pulled out and aimed at the dark nothing that lay all around us. “Tala! Are you hit?” I heard her breath rasp in and out, too slowly. “Son of a bitch!”

  Chapter 8

  Another shot zinged off the buildings had me diving over Tala, but not before I felt fire rip through my arm. I instinctively covered the wound on arm with my opposite hand, shifting all of my weight on Tala who moaned. I heard the distant sound of a car burning rubber and then silence fell and the only sound I heard was my own accelerated heartbeat. Time seemed to slow down as I watched blood blossom through the sleeve of my shirt. I’d been shot.

  Joaquin grabbed me, jolting me back to reality. “She’s hit. Get her into the car.” I ordered quickly.

  Joaquin picked her up in one fluid motion and climbed into the back seat. As he got her settled, I ripped a strip off my dress and tied it around my arm with my teeth, covering it with my sleeve. I hopped in the car, jammed the key in the ignition and pushed the gas pedal to the floor.

  The hospital was just a few blocks from the strip of bars but it seemed to take forever to get there.

  “I need to call Lucas.” I pulled my phone out and started dialing.

  Joaquin snatched it from my hand. “You drive. I’ll talk.”

  I didn’t have time to argue as I peeled into the emergency room entrance and Joaquin had the back door open before I could jerk the car to a stop.

  “Gunshot!” I yelled, as an orderly came running with a gurney. “It’s probably laced with wolfsbane.”

  “Sh-she’s not human?” He stopped mid-step as his face contorted in a mixture of fear and disgust.

  “Shifter and she’s dying. Move your ass!” I ordered as Joaquin set her on the gurney.

  “We don’t treat her kind here.” A doctor came up behind the orderly, his stance haughty and face smug.

  “She’s fucking dying!” Joaquin roared.

  “She needs fluids, it’s her only chance.” I shoved the orderly out of my way.

  “I’m sorry—”

  “Leah!” I heard Alli’s voice cut through the small crowd that had gathered in the hallway.

  “He won’t help her, Alli. She’s been shot with a bullet laced with wolfsbane.”

  Alli shoved past the surprised doctor and directed us into an exam room. She quickly set up an IV in Tala. Dr. Asshole followed us in.

  “You cannot treat an animal at this hospital!” I pushed him back out of the room before Joaquin took a swing at him.

  “There’s a clinic at Ian’s place but we didn’t have time to get her there. There’s wolfsbane in her blood. The only chance we have is to flush it out of her.”

  “Nurse Wilson!” He shouted through the door. “This is against hospital policy.”

  Alli didn’t stop working on Tala “The hell with policy! She will die without our help!”

  I stood there, helplessly watching Alli work. I was momentarily stunned as Alli’s words rolled around my brain. She’d cursed. I felt the edges of my lips tug in an involuntary but proud grin. Huh. I didn’t know Alli had it in her.

  “Leah?” Alli called. “You’re bleeding.”

  I glanced at my left arm. “Not mine,” I lied. “It’s hers.” I was only grazed and while it hurt like hell, it was definitely not life threatening. Better to let her take care of Tala and have Lucas clean up my arm later.

  Alli nodded, satisfied with my answer, and continued to work on Tala, throwing open drawers filled with medical equipment.


  Two uniformed officers rushed into the room and then froze, looking at each of us in turn.

  “Escort them out of here.” Dr. Asshole ordered, shoving in behind them.

  I shoved my badge in their faces and stopped them cold. “I’m federal agent Leah Wolfe and this woman”—my look dared them to argue—“is in need of medical care.”

  The two uniforms looked at each other, both waiting for the other to say something to break up the commotion in the hospital.

  Alli looked up at the doctor. “Are you going to help? No? Then get the hell out.”

  The doctor simply turned and walked out of the room.

  “I can stabilize her but I need to get the bullet out and they’re not going to let us do it here. You said you have a clinic?”

  “Yeah.” I clenched my fists to control my anger, wincing as pain shot down my arm. We were going to have to move Tala with the damn bullet still in her.

  “I’ll give her a shot of morphine but it won’t last long, will it?” Alli pulled a bottle and syringe out of a drawer.

  “Her metabolism will burn it up very quickly.”

  “Then let’s get going.” Alli injected Tala with the morphine then stuffed the rest of the bottle and a couple of more syringes in the pocket of her scrubs. Joaquin stayed in the doorway, making sure no one else came in the room while Alli worked.

  The moment we stepped out the door I saw Ian’s big black SUV. Ozzie stepped out of the driver’s side, gave me an assessing look and quickly pulled the back door open. Joaquin climbed in and gently laid Tala on the middle seats and then helped Alli in beside her. He climbed into the back and leaned over the seat, all the while murmuring to Tala.

  I climbed into the passenger seat and told Ozzie to go. He motioned for me to put on my seat belt and I rolled my eyes then carefully pulled my seatbelt across my chest, gritting my teeth through the throbbing pain. Ozzie caught my grimace and raised his eyebrows.

  “Are you hurt?’ He asked.

  “No, I’m fine. Now go.” Obviously, Ian had time to give Ozzie his “take care of Leah” training. I couldn’t really bitch about it though; Ozzie was part of Ian’s private security detail now. I briefly wondered if I would have a security detail when I married Ian. That would make my job a hell of a lot more difficult. I shook the thoughts from my head as Ozzie sped down the dark streets of the desert.

  Every few minutes, Tala would become combative and Alli would inject more morphine into her IV. At one point Tala even started to shift into wolf form, hair starting to sprout from her skin as it trembled and crawled all over her body, and then Alli stuck another needle in her and the transformation ended.

  All the while, Joaquin stroked Tala’s hair—whispering softly that she would be okay—and restrained her when the shift began. We didn’t know what would happen if Tala shifted with the wolfsbane-laced bullet in her body. When Ian, Lucas, Joaquin and I first discussed the issue, Lucas speculated that the shifter’s body might freeze in animal form, the wolfsbane preventing the transformation back to human. It was not a pleasant thought to have human intellect but be trapped permanently as an animal. To desire all the natural abilities and rights every human has, and not be able to act upon any of them.

  Chapter 9

  Every crevice in the road felt like a crater as I struggled to keep my arm still. When we pulled into the garage, Ian, Lucas and Bear were waiting. Ian was standing to the side, in the shadows. His hair was tousled and he wore nothing except a light pair of lounge pants that slung low on his hips. He had just woken up.

  “Doesn’t he ever sleep?” Joaquin asked.

  “Not for very long.” I replied, too full of adrenaline to catch the animosity in his voice right away. By the time my brain caught up with his rancor, Joaquin was out of the car and carrying Tala into the house, Alli and Lucas following quickly behind them.

  Ian ripped my car door off. Not open; he yanked it right off the hinges. “Where are you hurt, my love?” He asked as his hands started gently patting me down.

  “I’m not hurt.” I steadied his hands at my shoulders. “Tala, not me.”

  “Bullshit! I can smell your blood.” His fingers continued to slide down my arms.

  “It’s just a scratch, a graze, nothing more.”

  “Joaquin only told Lucas that he was bringing “her” in with a gunshot wound and that she was unconscious.”

  I felt my eyes narrow. “He didn’t say who it was?” I asked through gritted teeth.

  “No, my love. He did not.” His face softened with relief, but I still saw the flash of fury. Ian knew what Joaquin had been trying to do. “We will deal with him later. Let us attend to Tala now, and have Lucas see to your ‘graze’.”

  I silently followed Ian to the underground clinic, all the time thinking the son-of-a-bitch. I wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt. Maybe he’d been too frantic, too rushed to tell Bear exactly who was shot.

  But I’d trusted Joaquin far too much in the past and been burned every damn time to trust him now. He had known that Ian would get the message from Bear, known that Ian would think it was me and not be able to do a fucking thing about it; trapped away from me by the sun. It was a metaphorical sucker punch to Ian. Joaquin did it to say, “See? I can take care of Leah, and you can’t.” My gut twisted with anger.

  Anger that I would have to swallow down, no matter how bitter the taste, until Tala was healed.

  Ian insisted on looking at my arm, gently pulling the fabric from my wound. It had stopped bleeding but as the material tugged at my skin, blood oozed from it once again. He flushed it with saline and applied a couple of steri-strips. Ian was finishing it off with fresh gauze when Lucas came in. It took nearly an hour for Lucas and Alli to get the bullet out of Tala. That, as it turned out, was the easy part. Flushing her system of the wolfsbane before it could do permanent damage was the real issue.

  “When will we know?” I asked, my voice squeaking a little as Ian wrapped another bandage around my arm.

  “Not until she wakes up.” Lucas inspected Ian’s bandaging of my arm.

  “How long…” I never heard Ian finish the question.

  I wasn’t unconscious for very long because I woke on the floor, and peeled my eyes open. Ian and Lucas were hovering over me with a foul smelling capsule beneath my nose. I jerked away from it. Once I’d accomplished that I tried to get up. Lucas’ hand on shoulder kept me down.

  “Not yet, Leah. What hurts?”

  I squeezed my eyes shut, took stock of where there was pain. “Only my arm.” I replied.

  “Now can I get her off the floor?” Ian growled as he bent reaching for me, apparently having decided not to wait for Lucas’ answer. He cradled me in his arms and then gently set me down on an examining table. He tilted my face up to his. “How do you feel, my love?”

  “I’m okay, I just…” I shook my head. “I don’t know.”

  “I want to put some fluids back into you, Leah. We’ll test the bullet we pulled from Tala but if hers was laced with wolfsbane, the one that grazed you probably was too.” Lucas pulled a tube from a nearby drawer.

  “I don’t need—”

  “He didn’t ask you what you needed, my love. Now be still and let Lucas do his job.” The look on Ian’s face told me that there was no way I was going to win this argument, so I let my head fall back on the pillow as Lucas poked a needle into me. He checked my pulse, blood pressure, and reflexes and took some blood. Then he hooked me up to an IV drip. I refused the sedative he wanted to give me and promised to rest for a couple of hours.

  Lucas got called to another emergency, a human one, so Alli took the first shift, staying with Tala for another ten hours. She checked on me from time to time but obviously trusted that Ian would find her if I needed her. I stayed in bed for nearly four hours, drifting between sleep and wakefulness, and then finally convinced both Ian and Alli that I was fine.

  “We have company.” Ozzie strode into the living room. “Captain Wilson has arrived.” />
  Ian flipped on the television with the push of a button on the remote. I had a clear view of the front gate. Another push of a button and the front gates slid open.

  “Well isn’t that handy to have.” I muttered.

  Ian pressed his lips to my forehead. “You just never know what’s on television these days.” He quipped then began flipping channels to reveal several angles of the outside property. “Handy indeed.” He stood and walked to the front door.

  “Leah.” Wilson embraced me the moment he strode through the door. “You’re okay?”

  “Just a graze.” I glanced at my shoulder, currently pushed against Wilson.

  “Shit.” He released me. “I’m sorry, I didn’t think.”

  I smiled. “It’s fine Wilson, really.” I assured him.

  “She should be resting.” Alli said from behind us. “But she’s just a stubborn as her father.”

  Wilson looked over Alli and his face showed relief. He’d been worried about her. He crossed to her and placed his hands on her arms, bending to look into her eyes. Alli smiled up at him and Wilson gave a slight nod, as if they shared some wordless communication between them.

  Wilson folded Alli into his arms in an embrace so tender it brought tears to my eyes. The love between them was a tangible thing, spilling out from them like a force, filling the room.

  Love forged from years of trial and error and molded by a lifetime of experiences.

  I never really paid attention to it before. I felt like I was invading some private, intimate moment, but I couldn’t turn away. Wilson hadn’t even kissed Alli. The only place their bodies touched was where his hands rested gently on her arms.

  This was the real deal. Proof that happiness has nothing to do with being able to please a different person in your bed each night. It has everything to do with waking up with the same someone every morning for a lifetime, seeing them at their best, and worst, and loving them all the more for it.

  I felt Ian’s eyes on me and turned just in time to see his smile, the crooked grin that he seemed to save just for me.

  “Time to get you home.” Wilson announced, breaking the spell that seemed to have fallen over the room.